Ups and Downs
by Rachael Elizabeth Blair
Summary: Jal is feeling lots of ups and downs after the whole incident between Chris and Angie  S2E5 . Has some bad language, but it's used to capture the essence of the characters. Comments welcome!


As Jal looked at the swirling up and downs of the notes on the pages in front of her, she thought of the ups and downs of the past couple of days. Sitting in a tent of covers with Chris, listening to him as he explained how he wanted the word to be different, and kissing him. Those kisses that pierced her soul like the piercing high notes of her clarinet. But, as she knew from her years of practise and lessons, with every up comes a down. The low, rumbling notes of Chris' shag with Angie, and the cold, cruel word "pregnant" tormented her brain. Jal rushed over to clarinet, picked it up, and began to play. She blew furiously, trying to drown out the sounds of the unfortunate party the night before, and to blow away the painful memories. Just then, there was a knock at the door downstairs. _Oh God_, she thought, _am I that bad that the neighbours are coming over to shut me up? _ She packed her clarinet, hiding away the evidence. "Jal?" Her father shouted. "There's some bloke here to see you." Jal could hear absolute disapproval in her father's voice, which could only mean one thing. It was Chris. It had to be. Chris was the only person that had an appearance shitty enough to elicit that tone from her father. _I do __not __want to talk to him…or even look at him for that matter. _But Jal knew Chris; she knew that he wouldn't just go away quietly. She figured that despite her hatred of Chris at the moment, it was better to try and sort this. She reluctantly opened the door, and stood at the top of the staircase. She looked down to see Chris, smiling ashamedly, and wearing a ridiculous tie, t-shirt, blazer and red clown shoe ensemble. _At least he made an effort_. "Erm, hi…Jal." Chris nervously stroked his tie. He looked over at Jal's dad, wishing that he would just go away. "I was just wondering if, erm, you'd fancy goin' out for a…coffee with me." Looking at Chris' eyes, Jal could see a small, glimmering spark. A spark of sincerity. Maybe Chris really did care about her, and didn't just want her as another piece of ass. As she opened her mouth the respond, her father cut in—"No. Absolutely not. Jal's got to practise for the audition." He turned from Chris to Jal. "Go on you," gesturing for Jal to go back to her room. Jal looked once more at Chris' apologetic eyes. He had made an effort to fix his fuck-up, and here he was, being shot down before he even had the chance to make things right. Jal mouthed "sorry" to poor Chris, and turned to her door. As she grabbed the handle, she heard the crackly noise of a brave, if stupid, young man clearing his throat to make a stand. She whipped her head round to look at Chris. _What are you doing, you nutjob? _"Erm…sorry, excuse me sir, but if you don't mind me saying, I think it might be good for Jal to get out of the house for a bit. You know, get out there, breathe some air. Relaxing and hanging out with friends before the big day is just as important as practising." Chris smiled nervously, hoping that the improvised string of words that he used to sell houses would help him now to convince Jal's dad to let her go out and talk to him. Jal's father, who stood imposingly crossing his arms over his chest, deeply exhaled out of his nose, shook his head, and looked up at this poor sod. He looked up and over at Jal, then back at Chris. "Alright," he quickly glanced back over to Jal. Then strictly at Chris, "but only for an hour." Chris beamed, feeling relieved. "Great, sir, thank you. An hour's all I need." _Yeah, right. _Jal though to herself. _Like you can sort out your shit in an hour. You'll barely have five minutes by the time I'm finished with you. _She ungraciously walked down the stairs to meet Chris, pretending to be friendly with him so as not to arouse suspicion in her father. However, as soon as they were out of the door, Jal yanked her hands from Chris', and demanded an explanation. "Jal, I fucked up. I know I did. And I'm sorry. And…I know I fuck up a lot, but I want to stop fuckin' about. I want to get my act together…with you." Jal shook her head.

"Seems like you're more interested in Angie to me."

"That's what I mean. I know I fucked up with the whole Angie thing, and I want to put things right. Look, Jal, my life's gone to shit, okay? And, I've realised that to make it better, I need someone not just to shag, but to talk with, and to love." Jal froze. "Yeah, I said it. I love you, Jal. I knew it when we were sitting in the duvet. I could just feel it. I don't talk about my brother to just anyone…and that someone is you, Jal. I need to turn my life around, and I need you to help me through it." Jal looked again into Chris' eyes. She saw that same spark of sincerity as before, now mixed with sheer desperation. And, she felt that deep down inside her heart, she felt the same way about Chris. She loved Chris, and wanted him to get out of his shit-hole, and be somebody. She knew that he could be somebody, if he just got off his arse and tried. And she was more than willing to help him.

"Alright. Let the record show that I was really pissed off at you…but now," she gave him a big, long kiss. "I'm not…as much. Let's start turning around that fucked up life of yours by tidying up your flat." Chris smiled, and puts his hands together, almost as if he were praying.

"Oh, thank you, Jal." They kissed once again, and Chris' hands found their way all over Jal's body, sweeping up and down in tender caresses. Jal smiled. _These are the ups and downs I'm looking forward to_.


End file.
